PerplexityBot
PerplexityBot is the web crawler Perplexity uses to find websites and link to them in its search results. Perplexity's crawler page says it isn't used to gather content for training AI models. Site owners control it with a line in their robots.txt file, and Perplexity says a change there can take up to 24 hours to take effect.
Source: Perplexity Docs, Perplexity Crawlers, checked October 29, 2026
What PerplexityBot means for your business
The name in your server logs isn't proof on its own, since any bot can claim it. Perplexity publishes the IP addresses PerplexityBot uses, and its own firewall instructions match the name and the address together. We'd check a doubtful visit the same way before allowing or blocking it.
Perplexity runs a second agent, Perplexity-User, that fetches a page when someone asks Perplexity a question and may link to that page in its answer. Perplexity says it generally ignores robots.txt, and it has its own address list, so a firewall rule that lets PerplexityBot in doesn't let Perplexity-User in. If you want Perplexity to cite your pages, we'd allow both.
Perplexity also updates its address list regularly and tells site owners to use the current one. If your host or firewall lets bots in by a saved list of addresses, we'd make sure someone keeps it up to date.
If Perplexity cites other businesses in your field and never your site, checking that its crawler can reach your pages is a sensible first step.
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms
How AI answers it today
On October 29, 2026, Google's AI Overview took PerplexityBot to mean Perplexity itself and described the answer engine, citing Perplexity's site, Wikipedia, YouTube and tech news. ChatGPT's description matched Perplexity's page but cited two small glossary sites instead of it.
Our run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview, October 29, 2026. A sample, not what every buyer sees.
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